Going home - Keep Your Life, Family and Career Intact While Living Abroad - page 109

Moving back to their native Scotland is obviously going to be something of a shock.
But because it is “home”, they do not anticipate the adjustments they will have to un-
dergo to fit back in to their chilly northern European society.
Returning home after an extended stay abroad is both exciting and stressful. After all the
physical and mental strain of packing, shipping, tying up loose ends and leaving, one looks
forward to arriving and quickly settling down in a comfortable, familiar environment. In
actual fact, once they have returned home the hard part has just begun, something which
takes most returning expatriates by surprise.
Reverse cultural shock is actually more difficult to deal with than the original cultural
shock experienced when entering a new land. This is because most people don't anticipate
the need for adjustment when returning to their home country.
In order to understand reverse cultural shock a person needs to remember what they ac-
tually went through in the initial cultural shock when entering a foreign country:
ELATION : Usually during the first several weeks in a new culture everything is fresh
and new. A newcomer feels excited and elated.
HOMESICKNESS : When the excitement wears off, a person is confronted with daily
life in the new society, where everything can be quite different from back home. Some
people refuse to adapt to the new culture, associating only with their own crowd and re-
maining aloof from the local population.
TRANSFORMATION : After about nine months, they feel more familiar with the en-
vironment and begin to see the good side of the new culture. They gradually adopt the new
ways of living. Sometimes people in this stage may go to another extreme, rejecting their
own culture and viewing everything back home as “unsophisticated” or not as attractive.
ACCULTURATION : When people learn how to integrate the “old” and “new”, they
can fully appreciate their own origin as well as the new culture.
When expatriates relocate back home after having been away for a long time, they are
likely to experience similar stages of acculturation. This is called “reverse cultural shock”:
ELATION : Welcomed back by long-missed family members and friends makes a re-
turnee feel secure, knowing this is his or her “real” home. They can enjoy driving on a big
wide road or strolling along the street without pushing through crowds. Things seem so
pleasant and calm at home. Such feelings remain for the first several days or weeks.
RE-ENTRY SHOCK : Fitting right in to the home circle and returning to “normal” life
doesn't happen overnight. The fact is, a recent returnee will feel very different from every-
one around. This will make him or her feel delighted and special on the one hand, but on
the other it brings confusion and a sense of isolation.